Why do my dwarf angel fish keep dying

[leo12345]

Today my coral beauty died super unexpectedly because he was extremely healthy looking, i had a flame angel too that also died unexpectedly after being healthy what am I doing wrong, They only thing i did before it died was i put some rodi water in the tank to top it off because of evaporation but i have inverts and there more susceptible to dying from sanity changes and they were fine but could this have killed it? I also heard that they catch fish with cyanide and they die unexpectedly, could this be the case?

 

[Weeb]

My lfs just tells me to float for 15 minutes them dump the fish in the tank which i know is wrong so thats why I usually add some water to the bag and leave it floating longer but since the sanity was the same in the bag i just put him in the tank

On multiple times at different local marine fish stores I saw them 'acclimate' new acquisitions just like this. Float-and-dump was a big surprise to me. So I'm not surprised to find they recommend what they themselves are doing.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I suggest buying captive-bred specimens or rehomed fish from reefers breaking down their tanks.

 

[Tamberav]

If salinity matches then float and dump is fine imo. That is how I do it.

Even if you made fresh water to move to a bucket to acclimate… it would still be dumping it into that water…

Matching water is matching water.

Besides the fish was alive for 3 months. I don’t see an acclimation issue.

What are you feeding besides brine? Brine shrimp sucks imo. The only one I ever even remotely feed is the spirulina ones or freshly hatched.

A fish would never win a fight with internal parasites on adult brine although I think you would see the fish losing weight or look bloated.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had the flame for about 3 months and the CB for like 2-3 weeks I got them both from the same fish store so i think thats the problem and im never going there again. Is there any captive bred flame angels? I also have a cleaner shrimp and a few other fish from the beginning and there fine

Neither case would have been related to acclimation. The fame angel wasn’t caught with cyanide, but coral beauties often are.
It is possible that the two losses weren’t related.
IMO flames are hardier that coral beauties.
Jay

 

[leo12345]

If salinity matches then float and dump is fine imo. That is how I do it.

Even if you made fresh water to move to a bucket to acclimate… it would still be dumping it into that water…

Matching water is matching water.

Besides the fish was alive for 3 months. I don’t see an acclimation issue.

What are you feeding besides brine? Brine shrimp sucks imo. The only one I ever even remotely feed is the spirulina ones or freshly hatched.

A fish would never win a fight with internal parasites on adult brine although I think you would see the fish losing weight or look bloated.

I just feed brine/mysis mix (because thats the only thing that stupid fish store feeds them) until i can get them on pellets and flakes. i feed them tdo Croma boost and other pellets that I forgot the name of but there popular, both fish were eating and extremely healthy with no symptoms of anything except the flame angel starting to have stringy poop before it died thats why im so shocked that they died, i thought something was wrong with my parameters or equipment but all my other fish and shrimp are fine.

 

[dennis romano]

I suggest posting your tank's water parameters. Most likely something off.

 

[leo12345]

I suggest posting your tank's water parameters. Most likely something off.

Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Salinity rn is 1.028 because of evaporation
Temperature 78

 

[leo12345]

If salinity matches then float and dump is fine imo. That is how I do it.

Even if you made fresh water to move to a bucket to acclimate… it would still be dumping it into that water…

Matching water is matching water.

Besides the fish was alive for 3 months. I don’t see an acclimation issue.

What are you feeding besides brine? Brine shrimp sucks imo. The only one I ever even remotely feed is the spirulina ones or freshly hatched.

A fish would never win a fight with internal parasites on adult brine although I think you would see the fish losing weight or look bloated.

Would the foods i feed help a fish fight internal parasites?

 

[Tamberav]

Would the foods i feed help a fish fight internal parasites?

I feed LRS frozen food and have had great luck bringing fish back from skinny with it.

I just meant that internal parasites don't want to kill the host but the fish has to eat enough for both them and the fish.

I am not sure this was the problem though, I was just pointing out that brine is meh.

 

[Weeb]

I just feed brine/mysis mix (because thats the only thing that stupid fish store feeds them) until i can get them on pellets and flakes. i feed them tdo Croma boost and other pellets that I forgot the name of but there popular, both fish were eating and extremely healthy with no symptoms of anything except the flame angel starting to have stringy poop before it died thats why im so shocked that they died, i thought something was wrong with my parameters or equipment but all my other fish and shrimp are fine.

Please don't feed flake and pellets. Go to a different LFS, or order freeze-dried foods online.
From Amazon:
Freeze-dried bloodworms (not ocean based but I make an exception for a rare feeding)
Freeze-dried Ocean Plankton
Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Ocean Plankton for Pets
Another is freeze-dried krill from Brine Shrimp Direct. May need some chopping up.

Chewy.com carries both the following:
Omega One freeze-dried Pacific Plankton
San Francisco Brand freeze-dried (ocean) plankton.

You’ll find other sources for these products. Also, something not on the list is freeze-dried or frozen spirulina gut loaded brine shrimp and just hatched brine shrimp. I'm not a fan of brine shrimp in general, but the gut loaded one can also be fed, sparingly, like blood worms.

Freeze-dried ocean foods avoid diseases. Another advantage of freeze-dried foods is to soak them in vitamins like one of these:
Vita-Chem Marine
Zoe
S.E.L.C.O. Boost

At least one feeding including the vitamin soak should be done every 5-7 days or daily for an ill fish.

Good frozen foods:
Hikari Mega-Marine Angel food (frozen)
Ocean nutrition angel formula
LRS Herbivore diet

 

[leo12345]

Please don't feed flake and pellets. Go to a different LFS, or order freeze-dried foods online.
From Amazon:
Freeze-dried bloodworms (not ocean based but I make an exception for a rare feeding)
Freeze-dried Ocean Plankton
Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Ocean Plankton for Pets
Another is freeze-dried krill from Brine Shrimp Direct. May need some chopping up.

Chewy.com carries both the following:
Omega One freeze-dried Pacific Plankton
San Francisco Brand freeze-dried (ocean) plankton.

You’ll find other sources for these products. Also, something not on the list is freeze-dried or frozen spirulina gut loaded brine shrimp and just hatched brine shrimp. I'm not a fan of brine shrimp in general, but the gut loaded one can also be fed, sparingly, like blood worms.

Freeze-dried ocean foods avoid diseases. Another advantage of freeze-dried foods is to soak them in vitamins like one of these:
Vita-Chem Marine
Zoe
S.E.L.C.O. Boost

At least one feeding including the vitamin soak should be done every 5-7 days or daily for an ill fish.

Good frozen foods:
Hikari Mega-Marine Angel food (frozen)
Ocean nutrition angel formula
LRS Herbivore diet

What’s wrong with pellets? It seems like my fish like them more than anything else

 

[Weeb]

What’s wrong with pellets? It seems like my fish like them more than anything else

Well, first, pellets and flakes don't come from the ocean. In all my dives I've never seen a wild marine fish find a pellet.

Second, read the ingredients list. Pellets and flakes use wheat and wheat products (including soy now) which isn't digested by marine fishes. Kinda like mixing your mashed potatoes with tree bark. Hmmmm yummie. Also, the protein % listed on the packaging includes the protein from the wheat/soy products, which the fish doesn't use. Kinda misleading.

Regarding the 'liking' portion. Yes our captive ornamental fishes will eat what we feed them. It may appear that they like these products. But I compare about what they like v. what is best for them to having my child eat ice cream for every meal. Sure, the child likes ice cream, but is it the best diet?

So for the best protein and greens for marine fishes, use products that come from the ocean. Doesn't this make good sense?

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Well, first, pellets and flakes don't come from the ocean. In all my dives I've never seen a wild marine fish find a pellet.

Second, read the ingredients list. Pellets and flakes use wheat and wheat products (including soy now) which isn't digested by marine fishes. Kinda like mixing your mashed potatoes with tree bark. Hmmmm yummie. Also, the protein % listed on the packaging includes the protein from the wheat/soy products, which the fish doesn't use. Kinda misleading.

Regarding the 'liking' portion. Yes our captive ornamental fishes will eat what we feed them. It may appear that they like these products. But I compare about what they like v. what is best for them to having my child eat ice cream for every meal. Sure, the child likes ice cream, but is it the best diet?

So for the best protein and greens for marine fishes, use products that come from the ocean. Doesn't this make good sense?

This, all of this.

OP: there ARE better quality pellets available, and they're helpful when needing to go on vacation and use an auto feeder etc... but most people would not recommend them or flakes as the main source of food. Look for high quality mysis (Piscine Energetics "PE" frozen mysis is one example, or even better - protein mixtures like Rod's or LRS). If you can't find those locally, you can order online - but even Petco carries stuff like Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef cubes, (one I feed every now and then to mix things up), and freeze dried mysis/brine shrimp you can soak in Selcon or VitaChem, etc to boost fishes' immune systems and fatten them up. Really sorry about your losses - it sucks. Hope you can figure out the root of it and have more success going forward! Don't be afraid to question things, but also know that there are many, many highly experienced folks here who really know their stuff nutrition- wise and it would be a good idea to implement their advice in a way that works for you.

 

[Weeb]

This, all of this.

OP: there ARE better quality pellets available, and they're helpful when needing to go on vacation and use an auto feeder etc... but most people would not recommend them or flakes as the main source of food. Look for high quality mysis (Piscine Energetics "PE" frozen mysis is one example, or even better - protein mixtures like Rod's or LRS). If you can't find those locally, you can order online - but even Petco carries stuff like Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef cubes, (one I feed every now and then to mix things up), and freeze dried mysis/brine shrimp you can soak in Selcon or VitaChem, etc to boost fishes' immune systems and fatten them up. Really sorry about your losses - it sucks. Hope you can figure out the root of it and have more success going forward! Don't be afraid to question things, but also know that there are many, many highly experienced folks here who really know their stuff nutrition- wise and it would be a good idea to implement their advice in a way that works for you.

I have fed the best quality pellets I could find when I'm in a hurry or late for work. But this is like one feeding out of 21. And when I leave for a business trip or vacation, my neighbor (whom I've trained) comes in and feeds my fish with frozen and freeze-dried foods.

I also have on stand by a man who is employed by my local marine fish store who can get inside to fix or correct a problem with my system. More things that just food/feeding can go wrong.

 

[leo12345]

Freeze-dried Ocean Plankton

Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Ocean Plankton for Pets
Another is freeze-dried krill from Brine Shrimp Direct. May need some chopping up.

Chewy.com carries both the following:
Omega One freeze-dried Pacific Plankton
San Francisco Brand freeze-dried (ocean) plankton.

You’ll find other sources for these products. Also, something not on the list is freeze-dried or frozen spirulina gut loaded brine shrimp and just hatched brine shrimp. I'm not a fan of brine shrimp in general, but the gut loaded one can also be fed, sparingly, like blood worms.

Freeze-dried ocean foods avoid diseases. Another advantage of freeze-dried foods is to soak them in vitamins like one of these:
Vita-Chem Marine
Zoe
S.E.L.C.O. Boost

At least one feeding including the vitamin soak should be done every 5-7 days or daily for an ill fish.

Good frozen foods:
Hikari Mega-Marine Angel food (frozen)
Ocean nutrition angel formula
LRS Herbivore diet

What do you feed that’s not frozen?

 

[uhgster1]

I had this guy for two years until I broke down my tank and gave him to my lfs. Before that I had one for three years in a different tank which I also gave away. They

ate a varied diet, but 50-60% of it was pellets. From reading the posts I think you were dealing with parasites and just bad luck.

 

[Weeb]

Freeze-dried Ocean Plankton

What do you feed that’s not frozen?

Depends on the size of the fish. I have fed these freeze-dried foods: small pod Calanus finmarchicus, Mysis/Mysids (e.g., PE), Blood Worms, Ocean Plankton, and Krill (sometimes had to smash or chop it). I rarely used freeze-dried gut loaded (with spirulina) adult Brine Shrimp.

 

[leo12345]

I had this guy for two years until I broke down my tank and gave him to my lfs. Before that I had one for three years in a different tank which I also gave away. They

ate a varied diet, but 50-60% of it was pellets. From reading the posts I think you were dealing with parasites and just bad luck.

What kind of pellets did you feed

 

[leo12345]

Depends on the size of the fish. I have fed these freeze-dried foods: small pod Calanus finmarchicus, Mysis/Mysids (e.g., PE), Blood Worms, Ocean Plankton, and Krill (sometimes had to smash or chop it). I rarely used freeze-dried gut loaded (with spirulina) adult Brine Shrimp.

I have fish that are smaller than 2 inches would any of these foods be small enough to feed them

 

[uhgster1]

What kind of pellets did you feed

The omega brand you get at Petco with garlic.